The fire exchange between army and terrorists had begun early Monday morning when two militants were spotted by a sentry outside the gated of the CRPF camp. According to a security establishment officer, the mercenaries were not carrying any medicines or food in their backpack which was a surprise as it is common for the fidayeen to carry food or medicine with them when they are trying to engage in a long fight and prepared to take hostages. This was not the first case where a fidayeen was only carrying ammunition with them for an attack.
The CRPF and troops from the Special Operations Group were successful in gunning down two fidayeen who were hiding in a building near the CRPF camp. They tried to enter the cam on the early Monday morning but their attempt was challenged by the guards at the gate after which they fled and hid in an abandoned building nearby. The attempt to infiltrate the camp was foiled by the army and they have been killed in a 50-hour long operation. In the fire exchange which was intermittent throughout the night, a CRPF constable was martyred. In the wake of the attack on the camp, the movement of traffic around the area has been stopped and civilians were advised to remain in their homes till the militants were killed.
The security forces were engaging the militants in a 50-hour long gun battle in which the terrorists were killed. When the forces searched the militants, they found that their backpack did not have any food or medicine and this was slightly odd. The militants were supported by Jaish-e-Mohammad which is terror outfit based on Pakistan. According to a CRPF official, it took a long time to neutralize the militants even if they were hiding in an under construction building because of the presence of civilians in the neighborhood. The army was unable to bring down the building itself as it would have jeopardized the lives of people in the building nearby so they had to fight with the mercenaries with short range rifles.
The officer further explaining the operation said that to engage with the militants, they had to come in an open area which was a big problem. But they used enough grenades and shoulder-fired rockets in order to fill the building with smoke to force them to come out. CRPF director General R R Bhatnagar said that they were successful in avoiding any large incident as the militants were stopped at the gates itself. The battle would have been more ugly if they had been successful in entering the camp. After they were forced to hide in the under-construction building, it was only a matter of time before they were killed.
This attack was second in a series of attack within less than a month. The first attack by the mercenaries was at the SMHS hospital when on terrorist was freed from police custody by other militants. The attack claimed lives of six army Jawans and one civilian. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while commenting on the situation said that enough was enough and Pakistan will have to pay for these types of misadventures.
